Last Hope
by Mushmallow62
Summary: Shinobu came to training as before, but the tension was growing from Zero in waves. How is Shinobu going to get him to deal with the fact that he cares for Sakyo?


100 Theme Challenge

94. Last Hope

Shinobu came to training and found that Mal and Benkei were already there, along with Ren and, of course, Zero. Once his friend would have come over to him and said they could now begin, instead he just got a fierce glare before he looked away and a tension overcame the training before it had even begun.

"Ah Shinobu," Benkei beckoned him to the side as he gave Zero and Ren their tasks to do for this training session, Zero turned once more to look Shinobu in the eye but all he found in those blue orbs was hate.

_What is wrong with me loving Sakyo that has changed you?_ He wondered to himself as he walked over to Benkei.

"I know what's going on," He began and when Shinobu began to defend his own choices the older man raised his hand; "I'm not judging you, you made your own choices and you are happy with them, that is the most important part about it really. However Zero…" He glanced at the other boy and looked back at him; "You can tell he isn't going to be supportive of this relationship in the least,"

"I don't understand why," Shinobu said with a sigh; "Sure Sakyo defeated us all, but with every defeat it makes us focus more on becoming stronger,"

"Who knows, maybe it's because you have become such good friends and he feels like Sakyo is taking you away from him,"

Shinobu nodded; "Maybe, but I have never missed a training session… Apart from when my arm was broken… You know, no one came to see me. Mal knows where I live…" He trailed off but noticed that Benkei nodded his head, asking him to continue; "It was Sakyo who came to me, he's the one who helped me out,"

"You have too much pride to just ask for help straight out," Benkei acknowledged; "And Zero is just too stubborn to see that you are happier as you are now,"

"But how can I talk to him about it? It's just making everything tense,"

"How would you feel if you both battled?"

Shinobu just looked at Benkei for a moment, then a spot of red caught his eye; _Sakyo, no. Don't interrupt._

"You might be able to clear the air,"

"Might is the right word," Shinobu sighed but he knew that Zero wouldn't speak to him unless they battled; _I've gotten stronger, I should be able to defeat him._; "All right, let's do this,"

With a nod Benkei called over to Zero and the two began their match, although Benkei noticed that a red haired male came towards him and stood next to him watching the battle.

"Do you really think this will clear the air?" He asked, but his tone said more, the older man knew that he didn't believe this would work.

"It's a risk, but there is no other way for Shinobu to speak to Zero,"

"I suppose so," Sakyo said with a slow nod; "But he'll regret it if he hurts him,"

Benkei suppressed a smile, glad that it appeared that the young man, Sakyo, wasn't taking Shinobu for granted.

"Zero! Why are you…"

"You betrayed me! Going off with _him_," Zero interrupted him and Shinobu took a step back, and right at the same time Zero's bey slammed into his; "You're not even as tough to battle anymore!"

"Zero, I have _never_ betrayed you," He began, trying to keep calm; "Why does it matter who I fall for? Why does that affect you? We would have been partners still!"

"Past tense!" Zero yelled back at him, his blue eyes filled with rage; "You were always going to just pair up with him!"

"No Zero, we are partners!" Shinobu tried to make him see reason, all the while his bey was repeatly getting hit by Zero's bey; _Hold on Salamander, just a little bit longer…_

"_Were_. And you know something, that's fine, you and he can be around each other all the time! You would have held me back anyway!"

"I have never seen Zero like this," Benkei commented, stunned at what was coming from his mouth.

"He's used to having all the attention on himself, he's never had to share anyone before and with this being Shinobu… He was the very first blader to defeat him when he arrived wasn't he?"

"Yes, he was the reason Zero trained so hard to be able to defeat him, it was because of Shinobu that Zero learnt of myself and Mal,"

"So it's because of everything that has happened, he feels like he is going to lose not only his friend, but also his rival too,"

"What?"

"Everything happened because of Shinobu defeating him, had someone else defeated him the chain of events probably wouldn't have had the same effect. But due to that, he felt that Shinobu and he…" Sakyo trailed off for a moment.

"They are linked together, like they have a bond of brothers,"

"Yes, a link that no one can break,"

"Just leave! Go with Sakyo and battle with him!" Zero continued to yell.

"Zero, there is a huge possibility that our bey's won't sync as well as our's do,"

"Well how about you two go and find out then!"

"Shinobu," Sakyo called over to his lover who looked at him in surprise; "Let it go,"

For a moment Shinobu just looked at him, trying to understand what he meant, when it dawned on him; "All right," He got his Salamander bey away; "Infinite Fire Stream Assault!"

Although Zero tried to get Samurai to stay in the dish, the number of bey's, even though they were illusions meant he had no way to find out which was the real bey, since Shinobu wasn't going to give him a chance.

Zero looked at his Samurai bey feeling frustrated and Shinobu was about to say something when he saw that both Benkei and Sakyo shook their heads. Under any other circumstance he would have found that weird and also rather hilarious too, but instead he just walked over to them.

"He just wouldn't listen," Shinobu said softly, feeling an ache in his heart that his friend wasn't going to support his choice.

"That's his problem," Sakyo stated callously.

"Perhaps he does need more time to get used to it, let us talk to him about it more. We might be able to see what is going through his head," Benkei told the sandy haired blader, ignoring what Sakyo just said.

"I… So I should stop coming to training?"

"Yes," Sakyo came in smoothly; "And instead you will train with me,"

Shinobu and Benkei both just looked at him in surprise; neither had expected him to offer such a thing.

"That would work; I would think Mal would want to check up on how everything is going through,"

"That's all right, I know she wants her data kept up to date," Shinobu said with a quick glance at Sakyo who just gave a brief nod in agreement.

"I better get them all back to training," Benkei said and blew his whistle.

"We should go," Sakyo said softly and walked away while Shinobu just watched Zero look at his bey before getting up and sending an ice cold glare his way as he moved in to line.

Without a word Shinobu followed him, wondering if anything would be the same again; he had been holding out, thinking that this confrontation would work and somehow he and Zero would work it out.

As it was he found that his last hope was on Benkei, he could only hope that it would work; he honestly didn't want to lose his friend because of who he fell in love with.

_Please let this work… please._ He prayed to whatever deity was out there listening to him.


End file.
